Waterproof garments



Jan. 29, 1957 v. 'M. F. GORDON WATERPROOF GARMENTS Filed April 21, 1955WATERPRGUF GARMENTS Valerie M. F. Gordon, Kirkhill, Scotland, assignorto V. G. (lnverness) Limited, Kirkhill, Scotland Application April 21,1955, Serial No. 592,782

Claims priority, application Great Britain April 27, 1954 Claims. (Cl.128-287) This invention relates to waterproof knicker-like garments forexample for babies. Examples of these garments are described in thespecifications of British Patents Nos. 665,724 and 665,676.

In order to adjust the garment for diii'erent sizes of babies it wassuggested to provide a tape to gather in substantially the whole of theback edge which extends around the back and sides of the baby. However,it has been found that this gathering makes a marking on the babys backand may be somewhat uncomfortable;

According to the present invention the back edge is provided with a seamcontaining a pair of spaced flexible strips of at least one-third inchdepth fixed to the garment and still enough to prevent buckling of thestrips and draw tapes connected to the strips for adjusting the distanceapart of the strips.

It is most important that the waist of the garment is tight, as it doesnot work properly unless it hangs from the waist. If a narrow soft drawtape is used around the back, the tape tends to become wrinkled and tocut into the babys back. The flexible strips provided in accordance withthe present invention are not only of a suitable width but also stifienough to prevent the waist from creasing or buckling.

The strips may be made of a synthetic plastic substance such aspolyvinyl chloride and may be from one-third to three-quarters of aninch deep, from 0.05 to 0.2 inch thickness, and from four to seveninches in length. The strips may extend from the ends of the back edge.The adjacent ends of the strips may be spaced apart from two to seveninches when the back edge is ungathered. The draw tapes which may be ofnylon may be stitched or connected by thermal welding to the strips. Thetape may continue to the press studs as a reinforcement. The front endsof each of the strips may be fixed by a pair of spaced apart pressstuds.

The invention will now be further described by way of example withreference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a view of a garment made in accordance with the invention inflat condition; and

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line IIII on Figure 1.

The garment comprises two sheets 10, 11 of synthetic plastic materialforming a back edge 12, front edge 13, and side edges 14, 15. The backedge is so called benited States Patent cause as a whole it is disposedrearwardly of the front edge 13 but it will be understood that the sideparts of the back edge will be at the sides of the waist in use. Thesheets iii, 11 are heat sealed together at 16, 16 to form a seam, and at1'7, 18 and 19, 26 to form another seam, and also at 21, 22. Disposed inthe seam id, 16' are two strips of plastic 23, 24 which are fixed to thesheets iii, 11 at the back edge by press stud members 26, 2'7 and 28, 29each pair being spaced apart along the sides of the back edge. Thesepress stud members are connectable to corresponding members 30, 31 and32, 33 so that the back edge and front edge together form the waist.These plastic strips 23, 24 have draw tapes 35, 36 sewn to them andextending out of a slit 37 in the seam whereby the strips can be drawntogether to the desired extent and the draw tapes tied in a knot or bow.

The scams l7, l8 and 19, 20 also contain draw tapes 33, 39 and 40, 41which can be drawn together and tied in bows. These draw tapes are fixedby heat sealing of the plastic material at 42, 43 and 44%, 45 so thatonly the parts near the bows can be gathered. Thus there will be nogathering of the front side edges 47, 4-8 which is important for comfortin use. The side edges of the sheets forming the leg openings are cutaway to provide a narrowest part located between transverse lines onesixth and one-half respectively of the length of the garinent from thefront edge, said narrowest part being from 5 to 40 percent smaller thanthe front edge all as described in the specification of British PatentNo. 665,676.

i claim:

1. A waterproof knicker-like garment the back edge of which is providedwith a seam containing a pair of spaced flexible strips of at leastone-third inch depth, fixed to the garment and stifi enough to preventbuckling of the strips, and draw tapes connected to the strips foradjusting the distance apart of the strips.

2. A garment as claimed in claim 1 wherein the strips are made of asynthetic plastic substance and are from one-third to three-quarters ofan inch deep, from 0.05 to 0.2 inch thickness, and each from four toseven inches in length.

3. A garment as claimed in claim 1 comprising a sheet of Waterproofmaterial and means for connecting the rear edge near the sides to thefront edge near the sides so that said edges form the waist, said stripsextending from the corners of the back edge along the edge towards theback of the waist.

4. A garment as claimed in claim 1 comprising a double layer ofwaterproof material connected along spaced lines by heat scaling to formsaid seam.

5. A garment as claimed in claim 1 wherein a pair of press stud membersare provided at each side of the back edge, spaced apart and connectingthe strips to the garment and serving also for attachment tocorresponding press stud parts at the sides of the front edge.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,573,903 Gordon Nov. 6, 1951

